History AudienceAlienatingPremise / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/TheSagaOfWhiteWill'' is an [[UndergroundComics underground comic]] with some explicit white nationalist, pro-segregation and anti-Semitic messages. This trope is probably a large part of the reason [[ShortRunners it only had one issue]].

* The ComicBook/HasbroComicUniverse largely ended up as a StillbornFranchise for this reason. Though [[SharedUniverse some level of interconnectivity]] between various Hasbro properties had been going on since the mid-80s, it was one thing to simply acknowledge that ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' and ''Franchise/GIJoe'' existed in the same universe, and another entirely to have them actively teaming up on a regular basis. What was more, the staff quickly discovered that the list of popular Hasbro properties that could easily exist in their shared universe was a lot shorter than they imagined, and so things ended up clogged with second-tier properties like ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'', and ''ComicBook/RomSpaceknight''. ''Transformers'' was the franchise from which all this sprouted, and therefore its fans saw all these other properties as attempts to piggyback off something more popular. ''GI Joe'' fans, the second largest faction, were against the Joes existing in the resulting FantasyKitchenSink and going on wacky adventures with giant robots, especially when a much more traditional run by Larry Hama was happening at the same time. Meanwhile, the smaller fanbases were irritated at the fact that the first new material featuring their characters in years was essentially a ''Transformers'' spinoff, not to mention this new material being a major ContinuityReboot from the original stories.

* ''ComicBook/{{Trouble|MarvelComics}}'' got off on a tepid start due to being advertised as Marvel's stab at reviving the long-dormant romance comic genre, but quiet ambivalence rapidly turned into BileFascination with the first issue, revealing that 1) [[MisaimedMarketing it's actually more of a raunchy teen sex comedy]], and 2) [[FirstEpisodeTwist it's actually a stealth prequel]] to the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comics, following the early sexual antics of a teenage Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and Richard and Mary Parker. Audiences were unreceptive and bewildered as to why Marvel thought this was a story they wanted to see, especially as [[spoiler:it went on to introduce a {{retcon}} that "Aunt" May was actually Peter Parker's biological mother]], and the massive backlash towards the comic was a major contributing factor leading to the newly-revived Creator/EpicComics [[CreatorKiller to fold once again]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Fortunate Son'' is intended to be a tribute to RockAndRoll... despite being a graphic novel about the Dark Knight trying to stop a violently insane rock star, him believing all rock musicians (and their fans) are deranged criminals (backing up his opinions by claiming that rock music played a role in his parents' deaths and sharing anecdotes of rock stars turning into crazed murderers), and showing that most of his enemies love rock n' roll in a scene set in Arkham Asylum. The result is a comic that appeals to absolutely nobody: haters of rock can't get behind the writers' intentions, lovers of rock can't get behind the resoundingly negative portrayal of rock stars and people who like their music, and ''Batman'' fans can't get behind the atrocious out-of-character writing and insulting retcons to Batman's backstory.
* ''ComicBook/FuryMax'' was part of the Creator/MarvelMAX line and featured a DarkerAndEdgier and BloodierAndGorier story of Fury looking at his last days as an agent of a post-Cold War era S.H.I.E.L.D. that presented Fury as a BloodKnight. Most notably, the detractors of this included Fury's co-creator Creator/StanLee and actor Creator/GeorgeClooney, who was in talks to play Fury in a movie when the series was released and dropped out precisely because of it, both men expressing disgust at the series' violent scenes, including [[spoiler:Fury disemboweling BigBad Rudi Gagarin and proceeding to strangle him with his own intestines]].

* Robert Kirkman's ''[[ComicBook/AntMan The Irredeemable Ant-Man]]'': according to Kirkman, the idea was to have the protagonist start out as a cowardly jerk and evolve into a real hero over time. Unfortunately, the comic put extremely heavy emphasis on how much of a jerk the new ComicBook/AntMan was while failing to play up his HiddenHeartOfGold; Marvel's advertising didn't help, selling the comic with the tagline "The World's Most ''Unlikable'' Superhero". Non-fans of Ant-Man were driven away, while Ant-Man fans left out of disgust at the thought of such a douche taking over the title. Creator/EvangelineLilly read the series as research for the ''Film/AntMan1'' movie and publicly dismissed it as "crap".

* ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' (the original 1980s comic): {{Kid hero}}es, except that, instead of featuring wacky antics and dumb adult villains, the theme was played straight. The story took itself seriously (not only was the comic pretty dark at times, but the kids were even featured in the ComicBook/XMen's ''Mutant Massacre'' crossover, which was every bit as dark as it sounds), but many people wrote it off because it was about kids. Most adult comic readers dismissed it out of hand because they assumed a story about children would just be wacky and stupid, and kids who wanted to see wacky antics probably ended up disappointed. It's no coincidence that most of the letters to the editor came from adults, with only the occasional 12-year-old, who were surprised at the quality of the storytelling.

* The first volume of ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'', which ran from 1988 to 1992. Main character Will Payton had the misfortune of being a played-straight example of TheCape who was invented right when UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks was heating up and readers were in the mood for DarkerAndEdgier fare.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/SupermanTrueBrit'' is a comedic {{Elseworld}} tale that imagines how Superman might have fared if he had grown up in England instead of America. The style of comedy was ''extremely'' British (it was co-written by Creator/JohnCleese, after all), with a strong BlackComedy bent that doesn't really appeal to mainstream American comic-book fans, while British fans criticized the book for using extremely dated humor and references (for instance, a cameo by Music/TheRutles, a band that was already dated back when they debuted in 1979, and recycling a gag from the "Bicycle Repairman" sketch from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.)
** ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': The premise of Peter David's 1996 book -wherein a parallel lifeform merges with a dying Satanist, becomes an "Earthborn angel" and lives supernatural-themed adventures with a religious bent- turned off older Superman fans (who wanted Kara Zor-El back), newer Superman fans (who did not care for Supergirl or supernatural-themed Superman books), religious fans (who felt David was writing an AuthorTract about beliefs he did not know or understand), non-religious fans (who felt David was using the franchise as a mouthpiece for his religious views), and more widely speaking, whoever was not a David's die-hard fan. Ultimately the book was cancelled and all but outright declared non-canon. DC tried to re-release the series as a trade collection in 2016, but it was cancelled after only four issues due to flopping in sales.
* Dan Jurgens' ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' series from 1996 which replaced all of the cast members from New Teen Titans with new characters and inexplicably turned ''ComicBook/TheAtom'' into a teenager. Fans of the classic team were outraged at seeing their favorites replaced by new characters, while newer fans were unimpressed by Jurgens' excessive use of TotallyRadical slang, and were put off by the premise that all of the new Titans were the product of aliens interbreeding with humans.

* Once ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' was finished, Marvel decided to {{retool}} the title akin to ''ComicBook/XStatix''. Only without both the cast (took four issues to bring a character back, and it was a very secondary one) and the premise, replacing the "villainous team doing heroic things" with underground superhuman FightClubbing. Tellingly, it only lasted six issues and one year later the real Thunderbolts returned. [[https://imatlasarrestmeplease.tumblr.com/post/31479453955/fightbolts-aka-thunderbolts-76-81 As one fan]] [[Film/FightClub breaking the first two rules]] ([[FanonDiscontinuity "We don't talk about]] [[FanNickname Fightbolts]]") summed up:

* ''ComicBook/TroubleMarvelComics'' was universally condemned upon release. Among the reasons as such include being advertised as a romance comic despite not really being one, but the biggest issue is that it's a StealthPrequel to ''Comicbook/SpiderMan,'' revealing the wacky sexcapades that his parents, Uncle Ben and Aunt May apparently had when they were teenagers.[[note]]Yes, for the purposes of this we are ignoring the fact that Ben and May are apparently decades older than Richard and Mary.[[/note]] It all leads to a {{retcon}} where we learn that [[spoiler:[[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo May is Peter's birth mother]] after an affair with Richard]]. It has [[CanonDiscontinuity been ignored]] by every subsequent story and its writer, Creator/MarkMillar, [[BuryYourArt doesn't mention it when listing his past works]].

** Indeed, all of the ComicBook/HannaBarberaBeyond books can potentially fall into this. ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' go from {{sitcom}}s to modern-day social {{satire}}s (with Comicbook/TheFlintstones written by someone openly stated to hate the franchise), ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' is a darker take on the Franchise/ScoobyDoo mythos with wild redesigns, and then there's the {{weird crossover}}s like ''WesternAnimation/TheBananaSplits'' meeting the ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad''. The only book that seems to have gotten near-universal critical acclaim is ''ComicBook/FutureQuest''.
* There was an ''ComicBook/XMen'' miniseries called ''The First X-Men'' that turned a lot of people, especially those who don't like ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, off by attempting to retcon that he, and not Professor Xavier, was the first person to found a mutant superhero team (and even worse, that the Professor was a [[BoomerangBigot self-hating mutant]] during that time). Critics generally found it an [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs utterly bizarre]] vanity project for writer Neal Adams, while fans felt it was a (bad) attempt to cash in on the [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine last two]] [[Film/XMenFirstClass X-Men films]] by combining their premises together, and it's never been mentioned since. The irony is that Adams has stated at signings that he hated working on it, as it was heavily subject to [[ExecutiveMeddling Editorial Mandates]] and [[ExecutiveVeto Vetos]].

* ''ComicBook/TroubleMarvelComics'' was universally condemned upon release. Among the reasons as such include being advertised as a romance comic despite not really being one, but the biggest issue is that it's a StealthPrequel to ''Comicbook/SpiderMan,'' revealing the wacky sexcapades that his parents, Uncle Ben and Aunt May apparently had when they were teenagers.[[note]]Yes, for the purposes of this we are ignoring the fact that Ben and May are apparently decades older than Richard and Mary.[[/note]] It all leads to a {{retcon}} where we learn that [[spoiler:[[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo May is Peter's birth mother]] after an affair with Richard]]. It has [[CanonDiscontinuity been ignored]] by every subsequent story and its writer, Creator/MarkMillar, doesn't mention it when listing his past works.

** A MagicalGirl maxiseries created during the early '80s didn't stand a chance, so Creator/DCComics [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun killed the series by making the main character evil and blowing up her homeworld]]. Of course, if they had the foresight to allow the property to live until [[Anime/SailorMoon the '90s]], they could have had a hot product on their hands.

* ''ComicBook/PowerPack'' (the original 1980s comic): {{Kid hero}}es, except that, instead of featuring wacky antics and dumb adult villains, the theme was played totally straight. The story took itself seriously (not only was the comic pretty dark at times, but the kids were even featured in the ComicBook/XMen's ''Mutant Massacre'' crossover, which was every bit as dark as it sounds), but many people wrote it off because it was about kids. Most adult comic readers dismissed it out of hand because they assumed a story about children would just be wacky and stupid, and kids who wanted to see wacky antics probably ended up disappointed. It's no coincidence that most of the letters to the editor came from adults, with only the occasional 12-year-old, who were surprised at the quality of the storytelling.
* A similar issue plagued the first arc of the Creator/TerryMoore-led reboot of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}''. The extremely cartoonish art by Humberto Ramos suggested that it was aimed at younger teens, which repelled longtime fans, but the not-so-kid-friendly storyline -- involving Karolina being accused of complicity in the destruction of Majesdane, and ending with [[spoiler:Xavin impersonating her and handing themselves over to her accusers]] -- didn't really bring in many younger readers, and may have helped lead to the series' cancellation a year later.

* The second volume of ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers'' ended up as something like this. The premise is that SHIELD forms its own team of Avengers, but to keep them from revealing their secrets, they undergo a mindwipe after their missions, which was off-putting due to the grey morality of such a tactic and apparent attempts to amp the feel of the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] with the book's promotional material. Still, the series found a small audience thanks to the fact it explored the moral implications of the concept, had a quirky sense of humor, used underused-though-well liked characters ComicBook/WarMachine, [[ComicBook/DaisyJohnson Quake]], ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}, and ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}, and had generally good writing. The series ended after 16 issues so the writer could move onto ''Avengers World''.
** The third volume qualifies even more: it dropped the above-mentioned characters, with the art and tone of the comic shifting to what seemed to be a lazy ripoff of Matt Fraction's ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'' ongoing. Many fans dropped the book, and it was cancelled after 15 issues.

** ''Amethyst'' had a sort of crossover in the second series. Cue very surprised looks from readers wondering why a character from a [[GirlShowGhetto comic for little girls" was doing in the pages of ''Dr. Fate'']]. (Turns out Amy is [[spoiler:a Lord of Order]]. Yes, you read that right.)

** ''Amethyst'' had a sort of crossover in the second series. Cue very surprised looks from readers wondering why a character from a [[GirlShowGhetto comic for little girls" was doing in the pages of ''Dr. Fate''. (Turns out Amy is [[spoiler:a Lord of Order]]. Yes, you read that right.)

** A MagicalGirl maxiseries created during the early '80s? It didn't stand a chance, so Creator/DCComics [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun killed the series by making the main character evil and blowing up her homeworld]]. Of course, if they had the foresight to allow the property to live until [[Anime/SailorMoon the '90s]], they could have had a hot product on their hands.

** ''Amethyst'' had a sort of crossover in the second series. Cue ''very'' surprised looks from readers wondering why a character from a "[[GirlShowGhetto comic for little girls]]" was doing in the pages of ''Dr. Fate''. (Turns out Amy is [[spoiler:a Lord of Order]]. Yes, you read that right.)

* Barbara Slate's ''ComicBook/AngelLove'' series folded after eight issues and a special. Its cute cartoonish artwork and style of writing clashed with the subjects it was dealing with: drug use, abortion, critical illnesses, and incest.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'': Taking cult favorite teenage heroes (including members of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' and ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'') and putting them in a ''Literature/TheHungerGames''[=/=]''Literature/BattleRoyale'' scenario played completely straight, so as to prop up SmugSnake gimmick villain [[CreatorsPet Arcade]] as a legitimate threat (twenty years too late), by having a lot of teenagers die. The amount of vitriol it generated before and during its release is rather amazing. [[Comicbook/AvengersUndercover The sequel]], by the same writer, had the surviving kids infiltrating the Masters of Evil with the book's premise being that one of them will turn evil. It sold so poorly that it was cancelled after 10 issues (the story was planned for at least 12).
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: Fortunate Son'' is intended to be a tribute to RockAndRoll... despite being a graphic novel about the Dark Knight trying to stop a violently insane rock star, him believing all rock musicians (and their fans) are deranged criminals (backing up his opinions by claiming that rock music played a role in his parents' deaths and sharing anecdotes of rock stars turning into crazed murderers), and showing that most of his enemies love rock n' roll in a scene set in Arkham Asylum. The result is a comic that appeals to absolutely nobody: haters of rock can't get behind the writers' intentions, lovers of rock can't get behind the resoundingly negative portrayal of rock stars and people who like their music, and ''Batman'' fans can't get behind the atrocious out-of-character writing and insulting retcons to Batman's backstory.
* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' are meant to appeal to people other than evangelical Protestants. However, the target audience is automatically alienated by the central messages (promoting religious fundamentalism, decrying the "evil" of the Catholic Church, [[GodwinsLaw comparing people who think Evolution is a sound theory to Nazis]], etc.), while people who ''would'' agree with them don't bother reading them because the tracts are not meant for them.

* Keith Giffen and Creator/JeffLemire's 2019 ''Inferior Five'' mini. Named after an obscure superhero parody team from the Silver Age, and being a sequel to ''[[Comicbook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]'', a fairly unknown crisis event from ''1988''. Unsurprisingly, it failed to sell well and was shortened to 6 issues from its intended 12.

* ''ComicBook/SupermanTrueBrit'' is a comedic {{Elseworld}} tale that imagines how Superman might have fared if he had grown up in England instead of America. The short answer? Not well. The style of comedy was ''extremely'' British (it was co-written by Creator/JohnCleese, after all), with a strong BlackComedy bent that doesn't really appeal to mainstream American comic-book fans, while British fans criticized the book for using extremely dated humor and references (for instance, a cameo by Music/TheRutles, a band that was already dated back when they debuted in 1979, and recycling a gag from the "Bicycle Repairman" sketch from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.)

* ''Scourge the Speed Demon'' managed to be a truly extreme example of this in action. It was an attempt to revive Scourge, the EvilCounterpart BreakoutVillain of Creator/{{Archie|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|ArchieComics}}'' comic and establish him as [[DivorcedInstallment a separate franchise]]. Legal implications aside, fans did not take kindly to the idea of a character so intrinsically linked to Sonic having to exist in a world completely divorced from the blue hedgehog. On top of that, the fact that it was announced shortly after [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW the IDW Sonic comic]] unveiled their own evil green Sonic doppelgänger in the form of Surge did not go unnoticed by some, making it seem like a blatant attempt to cash in on ''Imposter Syndrome''. The comic was cancelled only ''a few days'' after it was announced thanks to the sheer fan backlash.

* ''Scourge the Speed Demon'' managed to be a truly extreme example of this in action. It was an attempt to revive Scourge, the EvilCounterpart BreakoutVillain of Creator/{{Archie|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|ArchieComics}}'' comic and establish him as [[DivorcedInstallment a separate franchise]]. Legal implications aside, fans did not take kindly to the idea of a character so intrinsically linked to Sonic having to exist in a world completely divorced from the blue hedgehog. On top of that, the fact that it was announced shortly after [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW the IDW Sonic comic]] unveiled their own evil green Sonic doppelgänger in the form of Surge did not go unnoticed, making it seem like a blatant attempt to cash in on ''Imposter Syndrome''. The comic was cancelled only ''a few days'' after it was announced thanks to the sheer fan backlash.

* ''Scourge the Speed Demon'' managed to be a truly extreme example of this in action. It was an attempt to revive Scourge, the EvilCounterpart BreakoutVillain of Creator/{{Archie|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|ArchieComics}}'' comic and establish him as [[DivorcedInstallment a separate franchise]]. Legal implications aside, fans did not take kindly to the idea of a character so intrinsically linked to Sonic having to exist in a world completely divorced from the blue hedgehog, and the comic was cancelled only ''a few days'' after it was announced thanks to the sheer fan backlash.

* ''Telos'' was a six-issue miniseries that spun out of the event ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'', already a story that underperformed significantly, and promised to tell the story of the character of Telos, a moderately important character in the book who hadn't exactly developed a great following (being seen as a walking plot device with a convoluted backstory and a pretty ugly design). On top of that, rather than coming out in the immediate aftermath of the event, it came out six months later, by which point most people had forgotten about him--and what was more, it came out in a period where several popular or important characters, such as ComicBook/{{Shazam}}, lacked books of their own, causing many to accuse DC of SkewedPriorities. The book sold abysmally, debuting at #115 on sales charts and dropping all the way to #231 by its final issue, and it's the last time Telos would ever make a significant appearance.

* Keith Giffen and Creator/JeffLemire's 2019 ''Inferior Five'' mini. Named after an obscure superhero parody team from the Silver Age, and being a sequel to ''ComicBook/{{Invasion}}'', a fairly unknown crisis event from ''1988''. Unsurprisingly, it failed to sell well and was shortened to 6 issues from its intended 12.

* The ComicBook/HasbroComicUniverse largely ended up as a StillbornFranchise for this reason. Though [[SharedUniverse some level of interconnectivity]] between various Hasbro properties had been going on since the mid-80s, it was one thing to simply acknowledge that ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' and ''Franchise/GIJoe'' existed in the same universe, and another entirely to have them actively teaming up on a regular basis. What was more, the staff quickly discovered that the list of popular Hasbro properties that could easily exist in their shared universe was a lot shorter than they imagined, and so things ended up clogged with second-tier properties like ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts}}'', and ''ComicBook/RomSpaceknight''. ''Transformers'' was the franchise from which all this sprouted, and therefore its fans saw all these other properties as attempts to piggyback off something more popular. ''GI Joe'' fans, the second largest faction, were against the Joes existing in the resulting FantasyKitchenSink and going on wacky adventures with giant robots, especially when a much more traditional run by Larry Hama was happening at the same time. Meanwhile, the smaller fanbases were irritated at the fact that the first new material featuring their characters in years was essentially a ''Transformers'' spinoff, not to mention this new material being a major ContinuityReboot from the original stories.

* The "Ric Grayson" saga from ''ComicBook/NightwingRebirth'' was so unwanted that fans would literally ask when it was ending whenever it was brought up. Coming off the back of a storyline in ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' wherein Dick Grayson is shot in the head, it turns out that Dick now has amnesia -- specifically having forgotten everything from after his parents were killed. This meant that he had forgotten ever being Robin/Nightwing/Batman, as well as all of his relationships built up from then -- i.e., literally all of his existing relationships -- and only retained an instinctual knowledge of his fighting skills. "Ric" became a cab driver and was intent on avoiding his past, while any character who tried to remind him of who he used to be was painted negatively for it, for not letting him move on, and Ric was angstier and angrier in general, even when he eventually sort-of became Nightwing again. Keep in mind, Dick Grayson's ''entire thing'' is that he is "well-adjusted Batman with social skills", so the premise goes against the core appeal of his character. Sales tanked and, eventually, DC undid the whole amnesia thing and quickly wrapped this run up before the series was overhauled as ''ComicBook/NightwingInfiniteFrontier'', which puts Dick back in Bludhaven and emphasises his optimism and relationships, to much wider fan and critical praise.

[[AudienceAlienatingPremise Audience-Alienating Premises]] in comic books.

* ''ComicBook/{{Trouble}}'' was universally condemned upon release. Among the reasons as such include being advertised as a romance comic despite not really being one, but the biggest issue is that it's a StealthPrequel to ''Comicbook/SpiderMan,'' revealing the wacky sexcapades that his parents, Uncle Ben and Aunt May apparently had when they were teenagers.[[note]]Yes, for the purposes of this we are ignoring the fact that Ben and May are apparently decades older than Richard and Mary.[[/note]] It all leads to a {{retcon}} where we learn that [[spoiler:[[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo May is Peter's birth mother]] after an affair with Richard]]. It has [[CanonDiscontinuity been ignored]] by every subsequent story and its writer, Creator/MarkMillar, doesn't mention it when listing his past works.

* Keith Giffen and Jeff Lemire's 2019 ''Inferior Five'' mini. Named after an obscure superhero parody team from the Silver Age, and being a sequel to ''ComicBook/{{Invasion}}'', a fairly unknown crisis event from ''1988''. Unsurprisingly, it failed to sell well and was shortened to 6 issues from its intended 12.

* ''ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen'' was swimming against the current basically from the start, as the idea of creators with no connection to Creator/AlanMoore (who was open about despising the project) doing a prequel to one of the biggest {{Sacred Cow}}s in comic fandom set a rather impossible standard. Even aside from that, though, a lot of commentators remarked that the idea of doing prequels to ''Watchmen'' felt rather wrong-headed, when the story of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is notoriously very tight and gives a pretty full picture of the lives and development of everyone involved, meaning that any prequel would either be completely inconsequential or end up retconning the original story. While the comics did manage to sell well (due in large part to name recognition), you'd be rather hard-pressed to find someone who considers them fully canon to the original.

* ''ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen'' was swimming against the current basically from the start, as the idea of creators with no connection to Creator/AlanMoore (who was open about despising the project) doing a sequel to one of the biggest {{Sacred Cow}}s in comic fandom set a rather impossible standard. Even aside from that, though, a lot of commentators remarked that the idea of doing prequels to ''Watchmen'' felt rather wrong-headed, when the story of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is notoriously very tight and gives a pretty full picture of the lives and development of everyone involved, meaning that any prequel would either be completely inconsequential or end up retconning the original story. While the comics did manage to sell well (due in large part to name recognition), you'd be rather hard-pressed to find someone who considers them fully canon to the original.

* Kieth Giffen and Jeff Lemire's 2019 ''Inferior Five'' mini. Named after an obscure superhero parody team from the Silver Age, and being a sequel to ''ComicBook/{{Invasion}}'', a fairly unknown crisis event from ''1988''. Unsurprisingly, it failed to sell well and was shortened to 6 issues from its intended 12.